Читать книгу Colton 911: Cowboy's Rescue - Marie Ferrarella - Страница 13

“I don’t like this any better than you do,” Jonah told Cody as he urged his horse on through the increasingly inclement weather.

He had been talking in a calm, steady voice ever since he and his horse had left the stable in Whisperwood. He wasn’t sure if he was talking for Cody’s benefit or his own, but it helped in both cases.

The farther away from Whisperwood he went, the more Jonah found that he had to steadily raise his voice, because not only had the wind picked up, but so had the threat of rain.

Actually, it wasn’t a threat any longer. Rain had turned into a reality, falling with a vengeance. It would recede, only to return, coming down harder than it had before.

If this kept up, the chances of floods throughout the already-beaten-down area was a given. Jonah drew in his shoulders, trying vainly to stay dry. His rain slicker and Stetson were fighting a losing battle, but it wasn’t in him just to give up. There was a woman out there who needed to be rescued.

“C’mon, where are you?” Jonah called out impatiently in his frustration.

He did his best to scan as much of the surrounding area as possible. According to his calculations, he had ridden onto the Corgan ranch about fifteen, eighteen minutes ago. Because of the rain that was still coming down, his visibility was limited. He hadn’t been able to make out anything except for an occasional tree here and there. Certainly not a person.

In any event, Maggie wasn’t near any of the trees he had made out.

“Maybe she’s not here at all,” he said to Cody. “And we’re just wasting our time—not to mention that we’re seriously running the risk of drowning out here if it gets any worse.” Cody whinnied, as if agreeing with him. Despite the situation he found himself in, Jonah grinned. “I know, I know, we’re the ones who don’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain, not her. But legend has it Maggie’s as stubborn as hell and if she said she was coming out here to find answers, this is where she probably is—but where?” he asked, frustrated.

Lowering his head, Jonah shoved his hat farther down on it, hoping to keep the wind from blowing it off.

“You see her, Cody?” he asked the palomino. “Because I sure as hell don’t.”

With one hand holding on to his hat, the other one wrapped around Cody’s reins, Jonah raised up from his saddle, standing as best he could in his stirrups. He was blinking furiously to keep the rain out of his eyes as he scanned the area again, searching for a familiar shape, or some indication that Maggie was indeed out here, or at least had passed this way.

As he surveyed the area, Jonah realized that his horse had ridden in very close to this humongous oak tree. The tall, wide branches were offering him some degree of shelter from the rain—just in time, it seemed. The rain was coming down harder and harder now.

Some sort of natural reflex had Jonah glancing up over his head. It was not unheard-of for animals to go climbing up into the first available tree they could find. It was a self-preservation instinct to keep them from being swept away in a storm or a flood. The animals that he knew reacted this way were mountain lions—and bears.

The last thing he wanted was to be under a tree when a mountain lion or bear decided it wanted a snack more than it wanted to stay dry.

But when Jonah looked up, it wasn’t a mountain lion or a bear that he saw.

Maggie!

Thank God.

“A little old to be climbing trees, aren’t you?” Jonah asked her, amused despite the less than ideal conditions they found themselves in.

Startled, Maggie had been so intent on holding on, she hadn’t even realized that he was there.

“Oh lord,” she cried, “you are the answer to a prayer!”

It had taken her more than a couple of moments to convince herself that she wasn’t hallucinating. After all, she had lost track of how long she had spent up here in this tree. She could hardly believe that she was finally going to be rescued. And if that wasn’t enough, this knight in shining armor was nothing short of gorgeous.

Part of Maggie wasn’t fully convinced that she wasn’t imagining all this. That she really would be rescued. Her arms had all but gone numb from hanging on to the branch she had climbed up on eons ago. At this point, she couldn’t remember not being up here.

Jonah slowly angled Cody, as well as himself, right beneath the woman he had come to rescue. He wrapped the horse’s reins around his saddle horn, then tightened his thighs about Cody’s flanks so that he could hold his position as steadily as possible.

Having taken all the precautions he could, Jonah raised his arms. “Climb down,” he instructed the woman perched above him. “Don’t worry. If you slip, I’ll catch you.”

Maggie looked down uncertainly. She really had her doubts about his assurance. “That’s a pretty tall order,” she called back.

Jonah could appreciate why she was so uneasy. There were several feet of space separating her from his outstretched arms.

He reassessed the situation. “Are you going to make me climb up there and get you?”

It was more of a challenge than a question. Or maybe she was just interpreting it that way. Maggie didn’t know. But she had never been the type of woman who would willingly cleave to the “damsel in distress” image. She wasn’t the type to be rescued, either. She preferred doing the rescuing, the way she had tried to come through for her parents.

“Just hang on to your patience,” she told him, slowly shifting her weight so that she could start to make her way down.

It took a second for her to release her grip on the branch, but she knew that it was either this or just staying where she was, clinging to a branch like some helpless female while this tall, dark and gorgeous specimen of a man played superhero. While that did intrigue her, it just wasn’t her way.

Holding her breath, Maggie inched her way down.

The branch swayed and groaned with every move she made—or maybe that was the wind that was groaning. She didn’t know. The only thing she did know was that she had to move slowly because there was no way in hell that she was going to come tumbling down out of this tree and wind up on the ground right in front of Mr. Magnificent’s horse.

Watching her progress, Jonah grew steadily more uneasy. He continued to hold his arms up and opened. The wind yanked at his Stetson, then ripped it right off his head.

“Damn,” he muttered.

Maggie thought the remark was meant for her, but the next second she saw the cowboy’s dark Stetson fly by her and then it disappeared into the darkened distance.

“I owe you a hat,” she told her rescuer, raising her voice so that he could hear her above the howling of the wind.

“Just get down here,” Jonah ordered, reaching up even higher. “We’ll settle up later.” His shoulders were beginning to ache. “You sure you don’t want me climbing up there to get you?” he offered, watching Maggie’s painfully slow descent.

“I’m sure!” she snapped, irritated that it was taking her so incredibly long to reach him.

It certainly hadn’t felt as if it had taken her this long to climb up into the tree. But then, at the time, she’d been propelled by a dire sense of urgency. Maggie had been convinced that the floodwaters would just keep rising to the point that she would be in danger of being swept away.

Mercifully, they had receded and even though the rain kept falling, it didn’t do so with anywhere near the intensity that the weather bureau had initially promised.

If it had, all of Texas would have been submerged by now, Maggie thought, inching her way down. And then she managed to reach the man who had come to her rescue.

“Sorry,” Maggie apologized just as she finally reached Jonah’s arms. “I really didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“Did you yell?” he asked, feigning ignorance. “I didn’t notice.”

Having succeeded in lowering her into the saddle, Jonah shifted so that he could position himself right behind Maggie.

Seated snugly, he closed his arms around her as he took hold of the reins again.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Other than feeling stupid and having my pride wounded because I had to be rescued out of a tree? No,” Maggie answered.

Taking a moment longer to remain under the tree and somewhat out of the direct path of the storm, Jonah considered her answer.

“Could have been worse,” he told her.

Maggie found that she had to rouse herself in order to keep focused. Right now, she was losing herself in the warm feeling generated by having this hero’s arms wrapped around her.

“How?” she asked, her voice sounding almost hoarse. She coughed, clearing her throat.

“You could have not known how to climb a tree,” Jonah answered. He began to urge Cody to start heading away from the tree. The rain was just not letting up. “It looks like the floodwaters rushed through here before they receded back to a decent level.”

“They did,” she told him. “That’s why I was up in the tree. I lost track of time,” she ruefully admitted. “Do you have any idea how long I was up there?” Maggie asked.

“A long time,” Jonah deadpanned. “Your sister and Donovan just had their first baby a week ago. It was a boy,” he told her with a totally straight face, although she couldn’t turn around to see it. “They named him Jonah, after me.”

That was when Maggie laughed. “You know, you had me going there for a second,” she told him.

“Oh?” he asked innocently. He kept his head down, talking close to her ear so that she could hear him. “What gave me away?”

“Because after what we’ve just been through,” she told him, almost shouting so that he could hear her and not have the wind whip her words away, “Bellamy wouldn’t have gotten married without me there. Really,” she asked more seriously, “how long have I been out here?”

He thought back to what Rae Lemmon had said to him. “By my best estimation, probably close to twenty-four hours.”

That made sense, Maggie thought. “That would explain why I feel like I’m starving,” she said. And then she ventured another look up at the sky. She almost wished she hadn’t. “It looks like it’s going to rain harder,” she reported in dismay.

Without his hat to shield him, Jonah quickly glanced up and then looked down again. “That would be my guess,” he concurred.

She looked straight ahead and had no idea where they were going. She could hardly make out anything. The rain was obliterating everything around them.

“Are we going to get back to town in time?” she asked him anxiously.

That was easy enough for him to answer. “Nope, afraid not,” Jonah replied simply.

That startled Maggie enough for her to attempt to twist around to get a better look at him. She nearly wound up sliding off the horse.

Jonah immediately tightened his arms around her again. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to make any sudden moves when you’re riding double in the middle of a storm?”

“Never had a need for anyone to point that out before,” Maggie answered, feeling exasperated again. “If we’re not headed to town, then where are we going?”

“Well, we definitely need shelter so we’re going to the closest place I know of—if it’s still standing,” he qualified. He hadn’t checked on it since Hurricane Brooke had paid the area this unexpected visit.

He could feel Maggie growing antsy. “My place,” he told her. “It’s a one-room cabin, but right now, it’s probably our best bet if we want to wait out this newest wave of Hurricane Brooke,” he said.

As he answered her question, Jonah shifted ever so slightly so that he could pull the ends of his slicker apart. The second he did that, Jonah carefully tucked the two sides around the woman sitting directly in front of him.

“It’s not much,” he granted, “but at least it’ll give you some protection against this rain.”

“I’m already soaked,” she told him. “But thank you,” she added in a politer tone. Then, turning her face toward him—carefully this time so she wouldn’t slid off—Maggie added, “And thank you for coming out to look for me.”

“Hey, no big deal.” Jonah shrugged off her thanks. “As it turns out, I just happened to be in the neighborhood,” he cracked.

Maggie knew the man behind her had said something, but because the wind had increased, whipping his voice away, she hadn’t been able to hear him. “What?” she practically yelled.

Jonah started to repeat what he’d said, then gave up. Instead, he just shrugged. “Never mind.”

He didn’t think she heard that, either. Right now, it felt as if the wind was scattering his words to the four corners of the earth before they could be heard.

Leaning in over the woman he was holding tightly against his chest, afraid she would slide off if he loosened his grip even just a little bit, Jonah raised his voice and yelled, “We’ll talk later.”

She nodded, not bothering to try to answer him.

Maggie kept her face forward, searching the area for a sign of something that resembled a building or anywhere that they could take shelter until this latest onslaught of rain finally passed. There was nothing.

She had never felt this dismally wet and cold—and hungry—before.

Finally, just as she was about to give up all hope, she thought she could make out what looked to be a small cabin up ahead. For a second she fought the impulse to turn around and ask her white knight if what she saw was indeed his cabin. But considering the fact that her words would probably be lost before he even had a chance to hear them, Maggie decided that it would be in her best interest to just be patient and see if this was the actual final destination.

At this point, Maggie was grateful for any place that could keep them even moderately dry. She wasn’t picky.

When they came to a stop, Maggie saw that they were right in front of the cabin. Up close, it looked less rustic and more modern, but as long as it kept them dry, that was all that mattered.

Maggie could feel her white knight dismounting. She was right—this was their destination. At least until the storm had passed.

Holding on to Cody’s reins, Jonah faced her, waiting. “Need any help dismounting?” he offered.

She looked at him as if she debated whether or not to be offended.

“I’m Texas born and bred, so no,” she replied. The next second, she got off the horse as gracefully as possible. But when her feet hit the ground, she found that her legs were a lot less sturdy than she’d thought. The honest truth was they were downright wobbly, and she almost sank straight down to the ground.

And she would have if he hadn’t caught both her arms in an attempt to steady her.

“Careful,” Jonah cautioned.

Embarrassed, Maggie murmured a stricken, “Sorry about that.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. You spent a day up a tree. You’re lucky you still remember how to walk,” Jonah told her.

She took one tentative step only to find that her legs still insisted on buckling rather than supporting her.

“Not so sure I do,” she admitted.

There was a part of him that couldn’t believe he was actually holding Maggie Reeves like this, the way he had once dreamed of doing. Usually, dreams had a way of not measuring up to long-cherished expectations. However, in this case, holding Maggie Reeves against him was everything he had thought it would be—and more.

Her heart was doing a glorious, uninhibited dance in her chest and just for one wild moment, Maggie thought that Jonah was going to kiss her.

She could feel her breath all but backing up in her throat, held perfectly still by sheer anticipation. She wasn’t sure but she thought she might have even leaned in a little to offer him a better target.

And then nature interfered.

Again.

“The wind’s picking up again,” Jonah told her, pulling his head back. “We’d better get inside before it gets any worse.”

Maggie nodded, knowing that he was right and that in all likelihood, the weather had just stopped her from making a huge mistake.

She told herself that she was relieved but wasn’t altogether sure if she was.